


We have to believe

by Iamthebad_wolf



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Drowning, Exploring the TARDIS, Explosions, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, Team TARDIS, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-11 16:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamthebad_wolf/pseuds/Iamthebad_wolf
Summary: The doctor loves her custard creams. Her custard cream despenser is one of the best additions to her new TARDIS interior. So when she notices a fault with it, she can't just leave it be; she has to fix it.But meddling with the wires in the TARDIS almost always leads to something going wrong.In other words, the console explodes, team TARDIS is put in danger, and the doctor has to try and make sure they all make it out alive.





	1. Chapter 1

A coat lies strewn across the floor, scattered tools nearby. Legs stick out from beneath the console, where a blonde head adorning goggles looks for problems in the machinery.

“Doctor?” yawning, Yaz smiles as she hears the woman drop a spanner, and start ranting at the machine she is trying to fix. Yaz stretches, arms high above her head. Her hair sticks out at odd angles, and her pajamas ride down her arms, leaving her forearms bare. “What are you doing?”

The Doctor pulls herself out from under the TARDIS console and looks up at Yaz. Black streaks cover her cheeks but she doesn't seem to care. “Aren't you meant to be in bed?” 

Yaz shrugs, crouching down beside the Doctor and wiping a streak from her face. “Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd come and see how you're doing.” 

The Doctor sighs, and climbs to her feet, tools lying forgotten by her feet. She shifts the goggles onto her forehead and rerolls her sleeves up to her elbows. “Well, terribly. I was trying to fix the custard cream dispenser but then I found a load more problems, which I couldn't just leave. I had to fix them. But the old girl really did a number on herself when she redecorated and there's a load of systems all crossword with each other, and when I fix one I find another, and they just seem to be endless. It's the worst design I've ever seen.” The Doctor moans, exasperated with her time machine. 

The TARDIS seems to groan in response, her lights flickering on the console. 

“Don't be rude!” the Doctor slaps a piece of the console, giving Yaz an apologetic look. The timelord often seems to forget that Yaz cannot understand what the TARDIS says. That very few people can understand what the TARDIS says. 

Yaz just laughs, and shrugs it off. “Maybe she likes her systems the way they are.” 

The Doctor crouches back down, looking back at the wiring. “Yeah, but it'll overheat and not work at optimum speed, and it must be uncomfortable for her.” She looks up at the glass column. “Trust me I'm doing this for your benefit!” 

The lights flicker again. 

“Graham and Ryan still asleep?” 

Yaz shrugs. She didn't really pay attention to the two men. Graham has his own room anyway so she wouldn't know. “I don't know. But Ryan didn't seem to notice when I snuck out. Oh, and by the way, Doctor. Bunk beds?” 

The Doctor's head shoots up, looking at Yaz like the human personally offended her. “What's wrong with bunk beds? Bunk beds are amazing!”

Yaz shoots her a pleading look. “Seriously, doctor. I had them when I was twelve. They might have been cool when I was younger, but I've definitely grown out of them.” 

The Doctor sighs, giving in. “it's your bedroom. I'll add it to the list.” 

She shoves her head back under the console, goggles back on her eyes. She fiddles with the wiring, screwing and unscrewing things here and there. Yaz sits with her back to a column nearby, and just watches the woman as she works. The Doctor is manic, like a puppy when it's playing. She has endless energy, and can't seem to stick to just one train of thought. But when she's working, when she's utterly focussed, her way of moving is almost melodic. She knows exactly what she's doing, knows exactly where to put that, how to apply this, what she needs to do with the thingy-ma-bob there. 

Suddenly, the console shudders. Yaz can feel it in the floor. “Doctor?” Uncertainty builds in the pit of her stomach. 

The Doctor pops back up, on her feet as she dances around the console. Her feets send tools flying, but she pays them no attention. She is entirely focussed on the console. “No, no, no. That shouldn't be happening?”

The TARDIS shudders again, amd yaz gets to her feet, sticking close to the doctor's side. “What's going on? What's wrong?” 

The Doctor shakes her head. Her hands fly over the controls. “I don't know-”

With no other warning, the console explodes. Light fills the room, heat burning Yaz's arms. The force of the explosion sends her flying across the room, crashing into the wall. Something in her shoulder cracks, and white hot pain sears through her body. She doesn't see the Doctor, doesn't see anything. The bright light must have blinded her. 

Intense pain fills her body. Whatever just happened, Yaz no longer cares, she just gives herself over to the darkness.

\-----------------------

Alarms blaring is never a good thing, even less so in the TARDIS. The infinite machine is so full of… well, everything. Meaning if something goes wrong enough for the alarms to be blaring, you're highly unlikely to remain unscathed. Ryan and Graham know that, and so waking up to the sounds of alarms is not something they had ever wanted to experience. 

“Great.” Ryan mumbles, clambering out of his bottom bed. He gets to his feet, and is startled to see yaz's bed is empty. He looks around, but there's no sign of her. 

“Ryan! You okay, mate?” Graham rushes into the room, not even knocking to check if he's decent. But he is so it's not really a problem. 

Ryan nods. “I'm fine. You seen yaz?” 

Graham shakes his head. “You know why these alarms are going?” 

Ryan can barely hear him over the aforementioned alarms, but shakes his head in response. They need to get out of here. 

Graham clearly has the same idea, and they both turn and head back into the corridor. They need to find the doctor and she'll probably be in the console room. She always tells them that she sleeps when they sleep but even in the middle of their sleeping time, the doctor can always be found in the console room. Once, she even left them to go on an adventure, and came back covered in green gunge. 

“Ryan…” 

The unsurety in Graham's voice puts ryan on edge. He follows the older mans line of sight and sees the end of the corridor completely blocked off. Overhead beams, lighting, entire sections of the wall have been blown off and fill the corridor. Ryan rushes to it, but to no avail. The two men are too big to fit through any gaps, and the debris is too heavy for them to lift. Looking around, there is no other way out that they can see. 

“We can't get to the console. Were blocked off.” Graham, very unhelpfully, points out. 

Ryan rolls his eyes. “So let's just go the other way.” The other end of the corridor seems to be in tact. They should be able to make it. 

But Graham's eyes are filled with fear. “What? Go deeper into the TARDIS? I've never been that far in without the Doctor to guide us.”

Ryan shakes his head. “it's that, or we sit here and wait for the Doctor.” 

Graham looks around uncertain. He doesn't want to just sit and wait, but he is so afraid of getting lost. Mulling his options over in his head, he finally comes to a decision. “Fine. Let's go and explore then, shall we?” 

The two men follow the corridor round. But eventually they come to another intersection, blocked off by a door. That gives them two options, go back the way they came, or go into the room off to the side. The room appears to just be a random storage room.

Ryan sighs, and hits the button by the door. “Why won't it open?” 

Graham shrugs. 

Suddenly the alarms shut off, mercifully giving their ears a rest. “Finally.” Graham was beginning to feel like his ears were going to drop off. 

Ears ringing, Ryan looks around, and frowns when he notices a small screen beside the door. It flashes a one word warning. 

FLOOD!

Ryan frowns, hitting the release button again, getting desperate. “What does it mean? Flood? What flood?” 

Graham hears it first, the soft, trickling sound of running water. Following the sound, he sticks his head into the side room. That's when he notices that the floor is sloped at a very unnatural angle. It must have been damaged when the rest of the TARDIS was damaged. They still don't know what caused that either. 

Looking around the room, Graham pauses. “uh, Ryan.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I think this is what it means.” 

Ryan follows Graham's pointing finger, and feels his heart jump in his throat. The room contains just one thing: a swimming pool. And that swimming pool is now lying at a very precarious angle, with water quite obviously leaking from it. But it's leaking slow. 

“We're gonna drown.” It's the first thought in Ryan's head, and the first words out his mouth. 

Graham shakes his head, shaking Ryan's arm, trying to grab his attention. “No, look. The doc must have prepared for something like this because there seems to be some sort of invisible barrier, holding the water in.” 

“Yeah, but Graham, it's also leaking,” Ryan reminds the older man. “That barriers failing. We're still gonna drown.” 

It's only when Ryan points it out that the realisation hits him. Graham backs out of the room and shuts the door. “Good point. We need to get out of here.” 

“How?” Ryan demands, desperation creeping into his voice. “The door won't open, and the other end is blocked off. There's no way out!” 

Graham sighs, looking around, at a loss for what to do. Eventually, he just sits down. “I guess we wait.” 

Ryan's eyes go wide. “Wait to drown.” 

Graham shakes his head. “Wait for the doc. We gotta believe she'll find us Ryan.” 

Ryan groans, but sits down next to Graham. “I guess you're right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work in progress. The next chapters are coming, I promise!


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing that slips into her consciousness is the sound of alarms blaring. The sharp noise pierces through her mind, making her wince in pain. The noise is too loud. Way too loud! Groaning, she opens her eyes. 

“Yaz? Yaz? Can you hear me?” 

The concerned face of the Doctor swims into view. As soon as the Doctor sees Yaz is awake, her shoulders relax slightly, and her face carved into a smile. Yaz frowns. What happened? But before she gets the chance to ask, pain begins to seep into her very soul from every point in her body. She closes her eyes, focussing on her breath and trying not to think about the pain. 

The Doctor carefully reaches out and places a hand on Yaz's uninjured shoulder. “Careful. You got hit pretty badly in the explosion.” 

Yaz casts her mind back, but can't seem to remember any explosion. Her mind is too foggy, too wrapped up in the pain she's feeling. “What explosion?” 

Her question doesn't seem to help the Doctor's state of mind. The timelord is frantically on her feet, searching for her charred coat and sonic screwdriver. Yaz just lies on her side, trying not to cry, as she waits for the Doctor to come back. 

“A bit of peace and quiet.” She hears the Doctor mumble, and the alarms finally shut off, leaving her ears ringing. 

She misses her mum. And her bed in her apartment. She misses the security she feels when she's at home. An explosion like this would never happen at home. Yaz came to travel with the Doctor because she wanted to see more of the universe, spend more time with the doctor, but now, as she lies in pain, feeling alone and scared, all she wants to do is go home. 

A whirring noise forces Yaz from her well of self pity and back to the present. She opens her eyes (she hadn't realised she'd shut them) and looks up at the Doctor, who is crouched right next to her and is reading something off her screwdriver. “Do you want the bad news, or the not so bad news?” 

Yaz just groans in response. 

“The bad news is, you've definitely broken some ribs, dislocated a shoulder and have minor burns on your arms, as well as hole is those very cute pajamas of yours. The not so bad news is that I can fix you up in the medbay. We just have to get there first.” The Doctor tells yaz quietly. The Doctor will never admit it, but it pains her to see Yaz like this. Strong independent living Yaz, lying on her side, trying not to cry from pain and fear. 

But Yaz isn't alone, and the Doctor is going to make sure that her little human gets the best care possible. She shifts Yaz oh-so-carefully onto her back, before helping her sit up. The whole time, she keeps a hand on Yaz's back to make sure that if she collapses, the Doctor's there to catch her. 

“Doctor,” Yaz whispers, sitting there cradling her dislocated arm. The Doctor scoots closer. “Doctor, I'm scared.” 

The Doctor's hearts break inside her chest. “Don't be. I'll be here beside you the whole time.” She whispers into her companions ear, holding her gently in an awkward hug. 

Yaz leans into the Doctor's side. She closes her eyes, soaking up the Doctor's warmth. This should feel awkward, but it doesn't. It feel… right. Well, as right as it can what with her being injured and inside an exploded TARDIS console room. “Why's this happening?”

The Doctor shrugs, rubbing a hand up and down Yaz's back in a soothing manner. She doesn't know if it's helping, but she's seen lots of humans to it to friends in distress, and she wants to help Yaz in any and all ways possible. “I don't know.” She admits. 

She shoots a glance towards her mystical and maniacal machine. The TARDIS better help them out or so help her god…

“Doctor?” Yaz's voice is so weak and pitiful. “you have pain relief in the medbay, right?” 

Yaz never admits to being hurt, not if she can help it. The Doctor knows her pain must be off the charts right now. So the Doctor carefully loops an arm around Yaz's waist, and helps the woman to her feet. She supports Yaz every step of the way to the medbay, never letting go of her for a single second. 

Yaz is eternally grateful. (Mostly for the excuse to be in such close proximity to the timelord.)

There are only two beds in the medbay, and they both look just a bit too clinical to fit with the rest of the whole TARDIS decor, but that's not the issue here. The Doctor helps Yaz into the nearest bed, and tucks a blanket around her. Yaz doesn't need it, the Doctor just feels the urge to mother her injured human. 

The Doctor hates the medbay; too clean, too quiet, too organised. She's rarely ever in here, but she makes sure she knows where everything is in case of emergencies. It's the only room in the entire TARDIS that doesn't ever change during redecoration. (well, it does a bit, the odd thing here and there but nothing too drastic, or enough to make a real difference). So the Doctor knows exactly where to go for pain medication best suited for humans. She stabs the small needle straight into the muscle of Yaz's leg without even asking. 

“Ow!” Yaz winces, but she barely even feels it compared to all the other pain. But that pain begins to.... “Oh? Was that…?”

“Pain meds, yes. They'll make you a bit drowsy, but it'll help.” 

Yaz nods, but she doesn't really hear what the Doctor tells her. Her heads up in the clouds, high on meds. 

The Doctor smiles at the way the young police officer is acting. But the horrible bit is about to come. “Yaz, I need to put your shoulder back into place.”

Yaz nods, but is so out of it she would agree to literally anything right now. “I like your hair. It's fun. So short and pretty. Your face too. I like your face.” Yaz babbles. 

The Doctor ignores her, and braces her hands on yaz's shoulder. She slowly pulls it up at a 90° angle. Yaz doesn't seem to know what's happening until her arm pops back into place. She yelps in pain, the agony ripping through the pain meds. “Ow!”

The Doctor grabs another syringe, filled with more pain medication, and prepares to insert it into Yaz's shoulder. The other pain meds were short lasting, and will soon be wearing off, and she doesn't want Yaz to be in pain. But before she has the chance to administer anything, an alert flashes on a nearby screen. It's in gallifreyan, but that of course is no trouble to the Doctor. 

Her hearts stop when she realises what's happening. The swimming pool is flooding, and Graham and Ryan are trapped down there. 

“Yaz, I'm sorry. But Graham and Ryan need my help. Stay here.” She tells her injured friend. 

Yaz frowns. “No, tell me what's going on!” 

So the Doctor does, because she knows yaz won't let her go until she spills the beans. But in telling Yaz what's happening, the human becomes more focussed on her friends’ safety than her own. “I'm coming with you!” 

“No, Yaz! You need to stay here!” 

“Doctor, they are my friends too.” She insists. 

The Doctor sighs. It's fight Yaz, or help her friends. She knows the choice she has to make. “Come on then. But take care of yourself. I haven't had a chance to catch up any other part of you.” 

Yaz rolls her eyes, but she knows what the Doctor is saying. Yaz would be terrified of the Doctor got hurt. “Don't worry, I'll be careful.” 

“This way.” The Doctor takes off running down the corridor to her right, the one that will lead them to Graham's and Ryan. The energetic woman, so keen for Yaz to remember her injuries, seems to have forgotten Yaz cannot run. She stops at the end of the corridor, and waits for Yaz to catch up. “sorry.” 

Yaz smiles and shakes her head. The Doctor is just… so different to anyone else she's ever met. “Lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit wrote this in ten minutes, I hope it's okay.
> 
> Feel free to leave comments.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, life's a bit hectic. But I managed to get this chapter done. I hope it loves up to expectations!

The water trickles through the shut door, slowly filling the corridor. The temperature of the water is cold, and as it soaks into their trousers, it freezes them to the bone. The rising water levels have forced them to stand, but they've been waiting for ages now, and Graham can no longer feel his feet. 

“I hope she isn't much longer.” Graham complains, rubbing his hands together and shivering. The water is up to his knees and still rising fast. 

“We gotta believe she'll come for us. That's what you said.” Ryan snaps back. 

Graham says nothing about Ryan's tone. He gets it: the boy is scared. He is too. “She is coming. I know she is. Maybe she just got held up.” 

Ryan sighs, hanging his head. “Sorry. I shouldn't snap.” 

Graham places a hand on Ryan's shoulder supportively. “Don't worry mate. I get it.” 

Ryan leans back against the wall. The water is rising steadily, and soon it will be up to his hips. He shivers. “What do you think happened? To cause this, I mean?” 

Graham shrugs and shakes his head, clueless. “I don't know. But the Doctor's always fiddling with something. Maybe she caused something to explode by meddling with stuff.” 

Ryan considers that. Even with what little he knows about the Doctor, that does seem pretty likely. The Doctor can't keep her hands still; if she sees something needs fixing, it plays on her mind until its fixed. Maybe she's got OCD? He had never thought about it like that before. “Yeah. Maybe.” 

Graham winces as the cold water moves up his stomach. “Come on doc. Where are you?” 

“Graham? Ryan? Are you there?” The Doctor's voice suddenly calls through the door. The two men sigh in relief. They have never been so glad to hear the doctor's voice. 

“Yeah, it's us. Get us out of here! Ryan demands. He's cold and wet, and was woken up from his sleep about half and hour ago. He's tired and wants to go back to bed. 

The Doctor, on the other side of the door, smiles at the sound of her companions’ voices. She looks over at Yaz, who is braced against the wall smiling despite the pain. “They're okay?” Yaz asks. 

The Doctor nods. “Sounds like it, for now.” She scans the door with her sonic screwdriver. But the door doesn't shift. The Doctor scans it again, before reading the results. She looks at Yaz. There is a look in the timelord's eyes that Yaz has never seen before: she looks lost.

“Doc, I don't want to worry you but the waters pretty cold, and rising pretty quick. If we don't get out of here soon we're probably gonna drown.” 

The Doctor's face is a perfect picture of fear, worry and concern. Honestly, it doesn't fill Yaz with the utmost confidence. So that's why the Doctor decides to reply to Graham's comment with a bit of sass. “Really Graham? A little more faith please!” 

“Sorry, but he's right. I don't think we have long.” Ryan tells them, agreeing with Graham. 

The Doctor sighs, hanging her head. She rattles her mind, trying to think of a solution. And fast. The sonic isn't working on the door. But the lock mechanism that prevents it from opening during a flood is based on the other side of the wall. If she can get to it, then she might be able to get Graham and Ryan out of there. But she has together to them first. 

“Doctor. What do we do?” Yaz asks, stepping closer to the timelord and resting a hand on her back. She needs the Doctor to know she's not alone here. Yaz is gonna help her, forget the injuries. 

But the Doctor cannot forget the injuries. “You're doing nothing. You're too badly hurt. You should be in the medbay right now.” 

Yaz raises an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips. No overly concerned timelord is gonna tell her what to do. “Yeah, well I'm not in the medbay, am I? I'm here. So how do we fix this?” 

The Doctor groans, running a hand through her hair. But as she does, she spots something. An air duct! More specifically, an air duct that goes through to the other side of the door! She can get them out!

Yaz sees the sudden look of hope spread across the doctor's face, and feels hope swell in her as well. “What is it?” 

The Doctor smiles, and points to the air duct. “There. I can crawl through and get them out from the other side!” 

Yaz stares at the air duct. It's small, really small. Neither Ryan nor Graham would be able to fit through there, and there's no way Yaz can get through there with her injuries. The Doctor herself is only just small enough to fit. That means if anything goes wrong, if the Doctor can't open the door, they'll be stranded, and yaz won't be able to help them. “I don't like this, doctor.” 

The Doctor turns to her, face set with determination. “I don't have a choice.”

Yaz doesn't like it, but she lets the Doctor go. She watches as the Doctor takes off her coat, and with only sonic screwdriver in hand, hoists herself up and into the air duct. “Just come back safe.” 

\-----------

Ryan and Graham wait patiently as the doctor and yaz argue about something on the other side of the door. Their voices are muffled, but they strain to hear through the metal. Ryan eventually makes out 'air duct’. 

“What air duct?” He asks Graham. 

But Graham is just as clueless, and shrugs. The water is now up to his shoulders. Any second now, the water will lift him off his feet. Ryan, being taller, still has a little longer before that will happen to him. 

Clanging suddenly sounds above their heads, and all of a sudden, the Doctor's dishevelled head pops out of an air duct.

“Doc! I have never been so glad to see you.” Graham exclaims, as he begins to tread water. 

The Doctor eyes the water warily. “Right. Don't have long. Better get to work.” 

She, carefully, as best as she can, slides out the air duct and drops into the water. The second the cold liquid encases her she gasps, nearly inhaling the water as she bobs up and down. She's shorter than graham, and so begins treading water immediately. “Blimey that's cold.” 

Ryan looks back up, expecting to see Yaz following. “where's Yaz?” He frowns. 

The Doctor sighs. She hadn't realised that these two wouldn't know about the explosion in the console room. She was too preoccupied with everything else that that thought sort of just got shoved into the background. “There was an explosion. Yaz got hurt.” 

Seeing the worry on Ryan's face, the Doctor quickly adds, “she's okay. Few broken ribs but otherwise okay. She's waiting for us on the other side of the door.” 

“Yeah, a securely locked steel flood door that we cannot get through.” Graham adds, with attitude. He's cold and wants out. How much longer does he have to wait?

The Doctor gives him a smile, and lifts up a hand. In it, is her sonic screwdriver. “don't worry. My sonic will get us out.” 

But looking around, she realises the control panel for the door is now submerged in water, by about three feet. To get to it, the Doctor will need to hold her breath and go under. And if her sonic is submerged, it may not work as fast. The Doctor hasn't had to work underwater in her new body yet, she has no idea on what her lung capacity is and how good she is at holding her breath. But she knows the techniques key to holding her breath, all she needs to do is apply them. “right. Here we go.” 

Taking a deep breath, she goes under, the cold water suddenly seeming so much cold now she's fully submerged. She finds the panel on the wall, and begins fiddling with it. But her lungs are beginning burn slightly. Her screwdriver is sluggish due to water damage. 

'Come on, come on,’ she thinks, waving her screwdriver more frantically. The burning is getting worse. Clearly, whatever breath holding techniques she knows, she didn't fully apply properly, and now she's beginning to feel the oxygen deprivation. Her head is swimming, and black spots are beginning to appear at the edges of her vision. 

The sonic is working slowly. The Doctor looks around, and suddenly notices that Graham and Ryan are now underwater as well. The water must have reached the ceiling, forcing them under. 'Hurry up!’

Suddenly the door opens, and the water floods out into the corridor, nearly knocking an increasingly weakened Yaz off her feet. The Doctor, Ryan and Graham are sent sprawling onto the floor. 

“You're okay!” Yaz cries, rushing to the Doctor's side. The Doctor was under for the longest time, and she's worst hit. The Doctor's lungs burn as she gasps heavily for air. 

Ryan and Graham lie there, coughing, breathing deeply. “Were okay, Yaz. How about you, though? The Doctor said there was an explosion.”

Yaz nods, cradling the Doctor's head in her lap. The timelord is still struggling to regain her breath. “Yeah, but I should be fine. Just need to be patched up in the medbay.” 

Graham and Ryan nod. “I think maybe we should head there now.” Graham suggests. The Doctor's face is too pale, but she's stopped coughing. 

“Good idea Graham.” The Doctor rasps out. She forces herself to her feet, Yaz and Ryan by her side to catch her should she fall over. Together, the four of them begin making their slow way back to the medbay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave kudos or comments

**Author's Note:**

> Work in progress, the next chapters are coming I promise!


End file.
